18 minute ambulance target missed in every local area but one as potential heart attack and stroke victims left waiting over a day

24 Apr 2024

EMBARGO: 22:30 Tuesday 23rd April

Just one local area in England is meeting the Category 2 ambulance response time target of 18 minutes for potential heart attack and stroke victims
One patient in Warrington waited 25 hours and 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive after a Category 2 call
Nine in ten local areas have seen an increase in average ambulance response times for Category 2 calls since 2019
173 of 194 local areas did not meet the target of seven minutes for average response times to a Category 1 call
Liberal Democrats criticise the Conservative government for their “decimation” of the NHS and call for urgent investment in ambulance services

Ambulance response time targets for potential heart and stroke victims are being missed in all but one local area in England, with average waits in some areas of over an hour, shocking figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

The figures, obtained by the party through Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) to all 10 ambulance trusts in England, reveal the local authority areas with the worst response times in the country last year. All but one local area missed the target for Category 2 calls, which can include stroke and heart attack victims and should be responded to in an average of 18 minutes.

The local area with the worst Category 2 response times last year was Cornwall, with potential heart attack and stroke victims facing an average wait of 1 hour and nine minutes for an ambulance to arrive, almost four times longer than the NHS target. This was followed by patients in West Devon who waited over an hour on average for Category 2 calls, and South Hams with average waits of 59 minutes. Only Windsor and Maidenhead met the Category 2 target with calls responded to within an average of just over 16 minutes.

In one shocking case, a patient in Warrington waited 25 hours and 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive after a Category 2 call, 85 times longer than the 18 minute target. Other long waits included in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent where a call out took 25 hours and 27 minutes to respond to and in East Lancashire where the response time for one case was 22 hours and 52 minutes.

Across the 165 local areas which provided full data, nine in ten or 152 had seen response times for Category 2 calls deteriorate since 2019. 13 local areas had seen the average response time for Category 2 calls more than double. In Plymouth there was a 141% rise in response time length, from 24 minutes in 2019 to 57 minutes last year. The LiberalDemocrats slammed the Conservative government for their “decimation” of the NHS and have called for urgent investment in ambulance services.

For Category 1, the most serious classification for call outs defined as “for life-threatening injuries and illnesses”, 173 of 194 local areas failed to meet the target response time of seven minutes last year. Mid Devon and West Devon had the worst average response times of anywhere in England, with both over double the seven minute target. In one shocking case, a patient in Oldham waited 11 hours and 44 minutes for an ambulance to arrive for a Category 1 call.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP said:

“Calling an ambulance when you or a loved one is in a serious emergency is one of the most distressing moments of someone's life. The least people deserve is to know that an ambulance will be able to reach them in time. Sadly, too often that is not happening as these devastating figures show.

“This Conservative government has overseen the complete decimation of local NHS services. Under the Conservative Party the health service has faced unforgivable neglect and it is patients who are bearing the brunt.

“We urgently need investment in our ambulance services. For too long staff have not been given the resources they need and patients have been left to suffer unnecessarily. Conservative MPs should hang their heads in shame.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The data on ambulance response times by local area can be found here.